Scott Boras Criticized For Overplaying His Hand With Free Agent Clients This Offseason

Baseball agent Scott Boras is generating some heat for the way he has managed his free agent clients this offseason.

Outfielder Michael Bourn, right-hand pitcher Kyle Lohse and closer Rafael Soriano all have something in common – each is currently stuck on the free agent market. Another commonality between the trio is that they are represented by Scott Boras of Boras Corp. And in a recent New York Daily News article, Bill Madden wonders whether Boras has “overplayed his hand” with his lot of free agent clients, will be unable to find a “patsy” owner to bail him out and has finally, like Napoleon, met his Waterloo.

If history has anything to do with the way the cards fall, Boras will find a way to get his players healthily compensated. However, Madden is not so sure. He says a number of factors are working against Boras in 2013, including an alteration in the way that teams are compensated (through the receipt of draft picks) for the loss of free agents to other teams, the new method of docking the amount of money a team can spend on the subsequent draft as a result of a free agent signing and a lack of fear exhibited by teams willing to make $13.3 million qualifying offers to a number of players.

Madden provides a good example of how all these factors come into play:

“For instance: The Tampa Bay Rays get the Atlanta Braves’ first-round draft pick for losing Upton to them. That pick has been deemed to be worth $1.8 million, which will then be subtracted from the Braves’ overall allotment of a little more than $4 million (the bonus pool maximums have not yet been determined, but last year the Braves were at $4,030,000). So it’s a double whammy for the Braves — as well as all the other clubs who sign free agents that received qualifying offers from their teams.”